Google Street View surprise

It's nice to know that I can still be surprised, I guess... the story's from Germany, but Google's not a company to do things differently in different places if they can help it, so it almost certainly applies here in the U.S. as well. Google's car that's used to generate those images for their Street View service does more than just take pictures... it's also scanning for wireless networks, and recording any MAC addresses it finds (link). The best "why" I've heard so far is to assist with geo-location... your IP address can and will change, but your MAC address is constant and unique (unless you take the time and have the know-how to change it yourself, of course).

My initial reaction on finding this out was unpleasant... after all, on a visceral level, there seems to be a big difference between filming the neighborhood and snooping into what electronic gear you may have stashed in your house. Thinking on it, though, most people who have a wireless router don't go to any great lengths to disguise the fact, and "hot-spot finders" have been around for years... the big difference here is that a data gathering company is pinpointing large numbers of such hot-spots, for purposes that aren't exactly clear, but it's not like any of these people were taking active measures to protect themselves.

So, I guess, if you're concerned about somebody tracking your Internet smack-talk back to your home thanks to Google, it's time to wire your house for Ethernet and drop all the wireless bits. Otherwise, it's business as usual... but with an extra piece to keep in mind, just in case.

Watching the Activision train wreck

It's not fun for the people involved, I'm sure, but it sure is entertaining to watch... in the week since Activision filed their counter-suit against the developers they fired for insubordination, at least ten more employees of that studio have left of their own accord, from reports I see on the 'net. The most notable bits I've gleaned on that:

• Mostly, it's "leads" that are leaving, it appears... but they're not all going straight into the welcoming arms of the new studio set up by the fired developers under EA's wing.
  
• "Anonymous source(s)" from inside Activision report exceptionally low morale, even calling the studio "dead".
• Activision and business analysts seem to be of the mind-set that they're likely to see more developers leave, but they'll just replace them, and will still be able to put out "competitive" products in the future.

How can I best put this... creative types aren't interchangeable parts. At some level, even Activision must realize this, when they replace terms similar to "industry-leading" with "competitive" as the best they can look forward to on an ongoing basis. To use a car-dealing analogy, it's like Lexus losing significant portions of their engineering and design staff, then telling anybody that will listen "not to worry, we'll get more workers, and still be able to compete with Chevy." I'm not going to be sad to see most of Activision wither away over time, but I do feel some sorrow for the coders that don't have the option to jump ship early, for whatever reason.

Of course, I did say "most of Activision"... there is one piece that isn't going by the wayside anytime soon, and that's Blizzard. Best evidence of that: they started selling an in-game mount for their World of Warcraft game yesterday, at $25 a pop... and sold enough to make over $2 million in a day (link). It'll be... interesting... to see how the power struggle over that cash cow plays out.

Brief catch-up post

All sorts of fun being had, and nothing quite worthy of a post of its own... time for another three-fer.

• My Roku box died! Well, to be more precise, the wireless and HD display parts died... so, after hours of consideration and reviewing the state of Internet players out there, I gave the old box to my younger brother (as much for the niece/nephew to watch as anything) and snagged the Roku HD XR. On the plus side, I've got dual-band wireless-N now, so I can run on a different frequency and avoid any issues with other wireless devices in the house. On the minus side, the USB port on it doesn't have any use (yet), and it seems to be a bit more sluggish to respond than my old box. Still, it's a lovely toy, and should only get better as more channels/new firmware comes out.
• On the Sony front, I decided to re-partition my PS3 hard drive, eliminating my Linux partition, on the assumption that I would be wanting to upgrade to the new firmware eventually... unfortunately, even though I backed up my downloaded software, it wouldn't work when restored, because it couldn't "phone home" during the restore, because I was using old firmware. So, to get things working again, I had to accept the new firmware and re-register my PS3 with their network. Not entirely unexpected, but it sure doesn't make me any happier with Sony.
• On the Activision front, it only took them over a month, but yesterday they filed a counter-suit against their ex-employees (link). There's two bits I like from this... first, Activision's assertion that employees were looking to steal "one of Activision's most valuable assets", namely the studio employees these guys presided over, as they jumped ship to a competitor. Note to Activision: no matter how hard you try, you can't "own" your employees... you can disincentivize them leaving by contract all you want, but, at the end of the day, it's their choice whether to stay or go, with or without their leaders. The second bit I liked? The rep for EA, where the jumping-ship-to was alleged to be imminent, replied to a request for comment "We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners." You know, I think he rather enjoyed that... :)
  

Comcast vs. FCC - round 1 to Comcast

So, old news as I write this, but Comcast got a court of appeals to rule that the FCC overstepped its bounds when it forced Comcast to stop throttling BitTorrent a couple of years back (link). Has it really been that long ago? At any rate, I was perturbed when I first heard this, being the staunch backer of 'net neutrality that I am... but I'm at least as staunch a supporter of the rule of law, and, in truth, the FCC's order was based on something closer to the Pirate Code from Pirates of the Caribbean (more like guidelines, really). While the goal was seemingly noble, government shouldn't get in the habit of claiming power it doesn't have, lest less-noble goals get the same treatment.

Of course, the question becomes "what now?" The FCC could pursue the appeals process higher, and get spanked by the Supreme Court, more likely than not. They could seek to classify Internet access as equivalent to phone service, bringing regulation and common-carrier requirements solidly into play, and trigger legal battles on a grand scale. They could wait for Congress to pass legislation giving them more nuanced/neutered powers over 'net providers... but good luck with that, since Internet access isn't even remotely sexy, even in political terms, and the big-business-friendly Republicans are already in an obstructionist mood. All I know is that there's no clarity right now as to who has how much say over how rabidly Internet providers can pursue their profit motives at the expense of their customers... customers that don't have the wealth of choices necessary to let the market truly dictate winners and losers. Here's hoping things get figured out quickly.

Another company for the no-buy list: Sony

Could it just be me, or are companies pushing the boundaries of appropriate behavior more cluelessly these days? The most recent to cross a line that shouldn't be crossed is Sony... they decided to try to remove a feature from my PS3 that has been there since I bought it, for vaguely-stated "security concerns", with only a few days notice (link).

Luckily, this doesn't appear to be as bad as I initially feared... none of the games I currently own, on disc or downloaded from their online service, appear to have been shut down. Of course, some games, like Noby Noby Boy, are pretty useless without an online component, and, unless I upgrade my firmware, I can't use their service. Even so, strong-arming your customers into giving up a feature they paid for without any compensation under questionable pretenses (whose security are we talking about, for starters?) falls under corporate behavior that I want no part in supporting... and, since this is the same company that tried to install a rootkit on their customers' computers using their music CDs, I honestly can't think of any action they could take to restore my trust.

Of course, for all that I have moral standards, I'm also a pragmatist... I'm not about to scour the entire house for Sony-provided products and start a bonfire in the street. I'll continue to make use of my PS3, with the games I already own... but I'm definitely no longer buying any PS3 game on disc "new" (wouldn't do to let Sony collect their slice, after all), and I'm going to resist buying any downloadable content from this point forward. Oh, and, of course, I'm not buying any of Sony's music, movies, computers, etc., and especially not any further hardware for this game system, nor any future game system they put out.

I find it hard to believe I'm writing these words... but I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft comes out with a new hardware revision for their XBox360? After all, they may overcharge for their components, and nickle-and-dime you in other ways... but at least they're straightforward about what their intents are.